


Connections

by notjustmom



Series: August Writing Prompts 2019 [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Post Infinity War, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, established pepper potts/tony stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 18:53:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20140315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: Pepper remembers when Harley appeared in her life, and re-appeared in Tony's... a week after Tony blew up at Steve.Prompt Day 6: Kids





	Connections

She still remembers the day that Harley Keener entered her life for the first time, and re-entered Tony’s. It had been a week after Tony’s dressing-down of Rogers, and he had basically gone into shut-down mode. She was sitting by his bedside, holding his hand when she heard a knock on the screen door. She whispered, “I’ll be right back, Tony,” then kissed his forehead and left the room.

“Hello?” She opened the door to see someone not much older than Peter had been, and he looked as if he had traveled a long distance and hadn’t eaten well in weeks. “Can I help you?”

“I’m Harley, Harley Keener.” She had looked blankly at him and he rolled his eyes. “I met Tony a few years ago, when he came to Tennessee after the Malibu house got, well, blown up? He helped me out - and I uh, well, we kinda saved each other, and I heard he wasn’t doing well, thought if there was something I could do -”

“Your family know you’re here?” Pepper asked cautiously, but could already see the answer in his eyes. 

“They got snapped. My town - there’s like ten of us left.”

“I’m so sorry, Harley. Please come in, I’m sure - well, he’s -”

Harley nodded and followed her into Tony’s bedroom, and took her seat, then picked up Tony’s hand and held it in his. “Hey, Mechanic.”

“Kid. You went and got bigger,” Tony whispered. They were the first words Pepper had heard from him in days, and as she sat down in the other chair, it was as if she wasn’t in the room. “How’s your sister and - shit, Harley, I’m so sorry.” 

“Not your fault, Tony.”

“It is.”

“No. Listen to me. It isn’t. I know you, I know you did everything you could do.”

“How do you know?” Tony mumbled as he closed his eyes and tried to turn away.

“Uh-uh. Because you are the toughest, bad ass dude I know. Look at me.” Tony opened his eyes and looked at the teenager. “I came here because, well, you know that connection we had - I knew - just had a feeling. I knew you weren’t dead, just felt it more than I have ever felt anything, and once the snap happened, I knew you were still -”

“Yeah, I know, kiddo.” 

“So I just started walking, I got a couple of rides, but I mostly walked here, I just knew where to find you.” 

He stopped talking as Tony squeezed his fingers, then whispered, “I’m so tired, Harley. Will you -”

“Yeah, I’ll be here as long as you want. Not going anywhere, Mechanic.”

Harley and Pepper watched as Tony nodded off to sleep and Harley began to tell her his story. “I met him in 2013, when he crash landed five miles from my town, and broke into my shed. I found him and one of the armors sitting on my couch. He was -”

“He was having a hard time back then, “ Pepper muttered. “He was still having nightmares from the wormhole, he couldn’t really tell me about it. You said you saved each other?”

“A couple of those Extremis jerks showed up around the same time that he did, and even without his armor, he kicked their butts - sorry - and there was a bully in town - I’m pretty sure he was dusted, but back then, the Extremis guy made the water tower collapse, and the kid almost drowned, but Tony used his arc reactor to restart his heart, and then - he almost died - I put it back in, brought him back. Thing is, he changed my life. It wasn’t just because he gave me stuff, and sometimes sent us money - I never asked him for anything, I swear. He made me believe - I just owe him.”

“You old softie,” Pepper said under her breath, and she couldn’t help but smile at Tony as he moved in his sleep.

“Listen - Miss - uhm -”

“Call me Pepper, Harley.”

“Pepper? I - I have a little money - and I can do chores - I mostly - I want to help him get better. I know you don’t know me -”

“I could tell he trusts you, Harley, and right now, he doesn’t trust many people. We have plenty of space, and I know if he were feeling more like himself, he would insist that you stay. I want you to stay. When he came back, he was different. Better, different. He never talked about what happened when he was away, but I knew someone had helped him. I’m so glad to finally meet you.”

Her heart hurt a little as a grin brightened his face, and she saw what Tony had seen in him years ago. “Now, you must be hungry - can I get you a sandwich or something?”

“Please? I’ll just stay in here with him, if that’s okay. I promised him I wouldn’t leave.”

“Of course. I’ll be right back.”

Now, she smiled as she walked into the kitchen as she saw Harley sitting across from Tony as he was trying to get Morgan to eat her morning cereal.

“No luck?” She asked.

Harley looked up and rolled his eyes. “My sister hated that stuff. I’d try the Cheerios. Let me give it a shot, c’mon, Mechanic, hand it over.”

Tony huffed at him, but handed Harley the spoon and grinned up at Pepper, as Harley put more cereal on the spoon, and said, “It’s an airpl - no, I got it -” He made the spoon look like it was flying back and forth, then made a beeline for Morgan’s tightly closed mouth. “It’s Iron Man - open wide, Mor’.” Morgan’s eyes focused on the spoon then opened her mouth wide as Harley put the spoon in her mouth. “Yummmmy cereal!”

“Blecchhh,” Morgan mumbled and shook her head.

“Chip off the ol’ block, that one,” Harley laughed and got up, then brought over the box of Cheerios, and put a few of them on the tray in front of her. “Try those, Mor.” 

Tony got up from the table and walked over to Pepper, then draped his arm around her waist and leaned his head against her shoulder. “Never thanked you for letting him stay, Pep.”

“You two needed each other, Tony. He made you want to come back, I think you had almost given up, but he reminded you who you are, who you’ll always be, and he needed to take care of you. You gave him hope when he didn’t have any and he wanted to give that back to you.”

“There!” Harley crowed as Morgan put a Cheerio in her mouth then grinned at Harley. “Told you she’d like them.”

Tony kissed Pepper’s cheek, then walked over to Harley and ruffled his hair. “Yeah, kiddo - I think she just likes you. Want to go for a walk around the lake?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Mor’, I’ll be back in a little while, ‘kay? Be good for your mom.” Harley ruffled the nine month old’s dark curls and smiled at her. “C’mon ol’ Man, let’s go.”


End file.
